1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a looming apparatus for a loom that is used when attaching or removing the warp beam and elements threaded by the warp to and from the loom.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the operation of attaching the warp beam to the loom and threading the warp thereof through certain elements of the loom, herein termed as a "looming" operation, it has been customary to resort to an operational procedure in which the warp of a new warp beam is threaded through heddles and a reed in advance of attachment of the new warp beam in order that the time involved in the looming operation may be reduced thereby improving the operational efficiency. By using such operational procedure, it is no longer necessary to connect each warp yarn from the warp beam with each warp yarn of the woven cloth on the loom so that the time necessary for the looming operation may be reduced.
An example of a looming apparatus for mounting on the loom the warp beam and certain elements threaded by its warp, including heddles, a reed and a dropper box, is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Publication No. 53899/1982. With this known apparatus, the warp beam may be mounted to and supported by a manually operated truck, while the heddles are suspended and supported by a heddles suspension arm mounted on the truck to be vertically movable, with the suspension arm being extended and retracted between the truck and the loom. The warp beam and the elements threaded by the warp yarn are mounted on the truck by a sequence of operations similar to that used for mounting these elements on the loom, so that transfering or unloading from the truck to the loom is facilitated.
However, when unloading the warp beam and the elements threaded by the warp from the truck to the loom, the truck as a whole needs to be drawn near the loom. To this end, it is necessary to take such measures as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the above patent publication, according to which a recess or cut-out is formed in the truck for introducing the frame of the loom into the recess without interference with the frame. However, in this case, there is a risk that interference may still be caused in the loom especially when the truck is moved manually. In addition, even after the truck is moved near to the loom, it is still necessary to resort to manual operation when unloading the warp beam, so that problems are presented as to safety and the necessity of manual operation.
In general, the truck is transported in a direction orthogonal to the cut-out or recess. Thus, in order that the truck may be moved near to the loom, it is necessary to divert the truck in a direction normal to the truck transport direction. For diverting the transport direction in this manner, it is necessary to change the guide direction of the truck castors. Such a change of the castor direction while the truck is stationary often leads to damage to the castors or the castor direction change mechanism due to the heavy weight of the warp beam and the truck. Moreover, considerable manual labor is involved in manually transporting the truck loaded with a heavy warp beam, while it is not possible to reliably prevent interference between the loom components and the truck components.